Cars

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Cars is a feature film by Disney and Pixar. It is the main film and the movie that started the Cars series.

Plot

The film opens in the final race of the 2006 Piston Cup stock car racing season and championship in the Motor Speedway of the South, where a skilled but arrogant rookie racecar, Lightning McQueen, has overtaken his opponents, past a huge wreck, and has built up a huge lead over the cup's defending (but soon retiring) seven-time champion, Strip "The King" Weathers, and perennial runner-up Chick Hicks. However, because of his refusal to make regular pit stops and get new tires, his rear worn tires burst into flames on the final lap, causing him to skid and ultimately crawl to the finish line, barely managing to tie the King and Chick Hicks in a photo finish. Race officials announce that because the three racers are also tied in overall season points they will compete in one final tiebreaker race to be held at the Los Angeles International Speedway in one week to determine the champion.

While traveling down Interstate 40 to California, McQueen becomes separated from Mack, his transport truck, and while trying to catch up becomes lost on U.S. Route 66, catching the attention of the local Radiator Springs Sheriff in the process. A chase ensues, during which McQueen crashes and gets tangled in wires, damaging part of the town's main street in the process.

McQueen is taken to traffic court, where the town's attorney, Sally Carrera, pleads against McQueen. He is sentenced to repave the road using "Bessie", an asphalt-laying machine. Only interested in leaving and extremely furious, he makes an escape attempt before being hooked up, only to figure out his gas tank was siphoned. McQueen rushes through his first day of paving and the new road surface is so bumpy, unusable, uneven, and poor that he is told he must scrape it off and start over again.

When Doc Hudson offers McQueen a deal -- beat Doc in a race around Willy's Butte and he is free to go -- McQueen eagerly accepts. He leaves Doc in the dust at the starting line, but loses control on the loose dirt turn and crashes into a catcus patch. While the town's tow truck, Mater, hauls McQueen out of the cactus patch in which he landed, Doc effortlessly cruises to the finish line after informing McQueen that he races like he fixes roads. McQueen is compelled to scrape off the botched pavement and start over again.

As the ensuing days pass, McQueen is disturbed by nightmares of Chick Hicks winning the Piston Cup and landing Dinoco. He starts to befriend the town's residents and learn more about the town in the process: how Radiator Springs was once a thriving town until completion of the nearby interstate bypassed the little town, depriving it of its business traffic and visitors (and ironically, depriving those passing visitors of the natural beauty found in the scenery along the old highway); how Sally left behind her rich but unhappy life as an urban lawyer; what "tractor tipping" (a parody of cow tipping) is; and how Doc Hudson was once a famous racecar himself (the "Hudson Hornet") -- and 3-time Piston Cup champion -- until a horrible crash in 1954 ended his racing career. Doc bitterly refuses to reveal much about his past (despite McQueen witnessing him expertly drifting through the loose dirt of Willy's Butte where McQueen crashed), labeling his old trophies as "a bunch of empty cups".

By the time McQueen finishes repaving Radiator Springs's main road, he has formed a bond with the town and its residents. Rather than immediately leaving for California (as he had initially been eager to do), he spends the day touring the town's businesses, receiving a fresh coat of paint and new tires in the process, and participates in a cruise party that night. But he is suddenly found, then whisked away in his truck, Mack, without even a chance to bid farewell to Radiator Springs. The town's residents are sad to see him leave, and Sally is angry to learn that it was Doc who ultimately informed the media of McQueen's whereabouts.

The final race among McQueen, The King, and Chick opens with what the race's commentators call the "biggest race in history." McQueen is distracted by his memories of Radiator Springs, losing time to The King and Chick Hicks, and begins to fear he will simply lose. To his surprise, Doc Hudson has arrived at the race, with Mater and a few others from Radiator Springs who will serve as his pit crew; Doc, once again wearing his original "Hudson Hornet" racing stripes, takes over as McQueen's crew chief. With Doc's coaching, a record-fast pit stop for new tires, and a few tricks learned from the small town's inhabitants, McQueen is not only able to overtake his opponents, but has built a considerable lead by the final lap.

As McQueen approaches the finish line, Chick sideswipes The King in a desperate attempt to avoid finishing behind him yet again, sending The King into a terrible rollover crash. McQueen, fearing that The King's racing career will end in the same way as did the Hudson Hornet's, comes to a full stop right before the finish line. After Chick gleefully crosses the finish line, McQueen then backtracks to push the veteran racer across the finish line ahead of him, saying that "I think The King should finish his last race". Although Chick Hicks has officially won the Piston Cup, he begins to learn that it's a hollow victory as he is jeered and despised for taking out The King, while McQueen is cheered as a hero for his good sportsmanship. Tex from Dinoco, The King's sponsor company, offers to support McQueen as his new sponsor; but McQueen, having now had a change of heart, respectfully declines, saying that his current sponsor Rust-eze gave him his "big break," and he wanted to continue with them.

Two days after the race, McQueen returns to Radiator Springs, announcing that he will establish his racing headquarters there. This helps to revitalize the town and draw back visitors and tourists, with the once-abandoned Route 66 being reclassified as "Historic Route 66."

Characters

Main page: Characters

Voice cast

Trivia

  • The tires of Lightning McQueen are Lightyear tires, which alludes both to the tire manufacturer Goodyear, and to the Toy Story character, Buzz Lightyear.
  • Chick Hicks's number (86) is a reference to the year Pixar was founded. Lightning McQueen's number (95) is a reference to the year Toy Story was released in the theaters.
  • During the introductory race there is a white car with the Apple, Inc. logo.
  • Ornament Valley, near Radiator Springs, is shaped like car hoods. The mountain range surrounding Radiator Springs is called Cadillac Range. The mountains are shaped like quarter panels of 50's Cadillacs, in reference to Cadillac Ranch.
  • The neon lights on top of the canopy at Flo's V8 Cafe fire in the same pattern as a 1932 Ford V8 Flathead.
  • On average, it took 17 hours to render each frame of the film. In addition, it was the first Pixar film to use ray-tracing to accurately create the reflections on the cars.
  • Cars was originally going to be called Route 66, which would make a lot of sense because of the location that the movie takes place in.
  • This is the first Pixar movie that used the word "hell". The second time was Ratatouille.
  • One of the cars in the first race is sponsered by 'Leak Less'. A bottle of 'Leak Less' fuel is seen in WALL•E.
  • Cars is the seventh Disney·Pixar feature film, and the final film by Pixar before it was bought by Disney.
  • The film is also the second Pixar film to have an entirely non-human cast after A Bug's Life.
  • The plot of Cars bears a striking resemblance to that of Doc Hollywood.
  • Cars recieved a 74% "Certified Fresh" rating on the movie review website, Rotten Tomatoes. This is the second lowest rating ever given to a Pixar film, after Cars 2.
  • Many famous people, particularly from the automobile racing world make a cameo appearance in Cars which include Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Mario Andretti, Michael Schumacher, Bob Costas , Darrell Waltrip and Jay Leno; references to Arnold Schwarzenegger and Elvis.
  • This film demonstrates Pixar's most extensive use of product placement seen in any of its films thus far, with automobile brands, both current and defunct.
  • This inspired Vídeo Brinquedo to make The Little Cars in the Great Race, a rip-off of this film.
  • In the scene where the race announcers are talking about the popularity of the race, it says that the whole town of Emeryville is closed for the race. Emeryville is the location of the Pixar Studios.
  • In Lightning's dream about his drama movie, a car gets zapped and emits the Wilhelm Scream. The Wilhelm Scream is a sound effect used in many movies.

Goofs

  • At the scene after the first race, when Lightning McQueen poses for the paparazzis, we can see Dash Boardman at the left behind Mia, he has green color. But when the security SUVs push Mia and Tia away, we can see that Dash Boardman has now a brown color.
  • In the tractor tipping scene, Mater demonstrates to Lightning how to do it by using two tractors before Lightning's first try. And then, when Lightning accelerates to make the loud noise and we have a wide open shot of the field, we can see that all the tractors in the field are still turning. Missing are the two already tipped by Mater.
  • When the car crash starts, you can see Chick Hicks knocking Winford Bradford Rutherford off the track, who then crashes into Murray Clutchburn, who then crashes into Johnny Blamer. Look carefully in the shot after Chick says "Ha! Get through that McQueen!" and you'll see that James Cleanair is shown instead of Murray Clutchburn.
  • After the first race, in the scene where Lightning is rushing out on the stage thinking he is the winner, loads of confetti is shot out when the King and Chick Hicks gets onto the stage. The confetti is then falling down, but not a single flake hits any of the cars. However, in the following shots, you can see plenty of it on the stage underneath the cars, even though they haven't moved.
  • Before Lightning falls off the end of Mack's trailer, you can see Snot Rod and one of the other cars running alongside the trailer. But when the camera moves to show Lightning coming off the trailer, you can see alongside the trailer in the background, and the cars are now missing. The camera switches back to the front of Mack, and the cars are back alongside again.
  • When the Delinquent Road Hazards are fooling around with Mack, the camera does a closeup shot of Snot Rod revving his engine, and you can see the throttle butterflies closing when he revs higher. They should be opening, not closing, with higher revs.
  • Before the start of the final race, when Chick is bragging to Lightning, the sun is reflecting off of Chick's "C in a thundercloud" sticker, displaying a clearly visible letter C on Lightning's paint. Based on the orientation of Chick's sticker, the C should be displayed backwards in the reflection, not forward as it is shown.
  • An apparent rendering error: as the camera pans through a crowd entering the stadium where the final race is being held, a brown car that is just to the right of the center of view has his left front wheel showing through his fender until the camera gets closer.
  • An apparent rendering error: at the scene when Luigi offers his service to Van and Minny, we can see Guido juggling wheels. When Guido finishes his Juggling with all the wheels over his right lift, his real wheel seems to overstep his own bodywork.
  • At the scene of the final race, when Lightning McQueen discovers that his friends from Radiator Springs are his pit crew. The camera shows the pit crew, and we can see that Mack has his headphones on. Right after that, another camera shows a closer view to the pit crew and Mack doesn´t have his headphones on anymore, but on the next scenes of the race, we can see that he stills with the headphones on.
  • During the final lap of the first race, the last 2 cars continually change from Kevin Racingtire and Slider Petrolski to Todd Marcus and Claude Scruggs, despite the fact that the four cars are nowhere near each other.
  • When Lightning rides on the wall to pass Rusty Cornfuel and Floyd Mulvihill, he passes Winford Rutherford and Sage VanDerSpin, and goes to Slider Petrolski, however, if you notice, past him are Todd Marcus, Ernie Gearson, and Winford again, as if there were 2 RPM cars with the same body, but there isn't.
  • When the car crash starts, after the camera zooms out you can see that Eugene Carbureski made it through the wreck, clearly, but in the next few frames it shows Eugene in the wreck.
  • At the beginning of the film, The King's eyes are brown. During and immediately after his wreck however, his eyes are the same shade of blue as his paint. At the end of the movie, while The King, his wife and Junior are in the museum, his eyes are brown again.
  • During the Dinoco 400 explication the Chick Hicks [1]Added by Cars4everpoint line doens't touch Chick Hicks.

See also

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